April 04, 2014

Coupons make me happy!
1. The church ladies save their inserts for me.
2. I love teaching others how to use coupons.
3. Love finding the deals, crunching the numbers and handing over the stack of coupons at the register.
4. Coupons help me stockpile but also help me give back to others.
5. Coupons are a way of life for me!
#100daysofhappy #funbags #ilovecoupons #listswithfriends2014

March 28, 2014

1. Has lost 2 bottom teeth. Has 2 top wiggly ones holding on for dear life.

2. He is a complete joy to our family. He is sweet, sensitive, smart, funny and a little bit ornery. And my baby with 2 different eye colors. When we talk about future things & I get a little sad ( I don't want them to grow up) Brady is the first to notice, are you going to cry mama? Then he will proceed to make his transformer noise because he know it's my favorite and will make me laugh.

3. He is in 1st grade and still lives for the weekends. He will do homework most days on his own, but sometimes it just wears him out. He also started piano lessons this year. And is turning into an avid reader. His favorite books right now: Don't let the Pigeon Drive the bus and the Stink series. I will usually find lots of books under his pillow at bedtime along with guys or legos. He claims it's very comfortable to still sleep with all of things under his pillow. And he hasn't met a stuffed animal he can't live without. At any given time you could find about 20 of them in his bed.

4. Daddy is his hero and Riley is his best friend. I hope these things never change.

5. Could live on chicken, ranch dip, brownies & apple juice for the rest of his life. He is the pickiest eater in our house. He thinks oranges are disgusting. Hopefully this will change.

We are so thankful for Brady Edward and the energy he brings to our family. We love you Brady!

February 11, 2014

These scrappy friends of mine are a pretty fun bunch. I love that we try to get together as much as possible. Or that we will start group text messages filled with randomness. Trying to put it into words what they mean to me, sometimes you just have to let a picture speak. This was from our last crop ever at Archiver's. Sad that they are going out of business. I can't wait for our scrappy weekend away, we will be missing one, but might be gathering 1 or 2 new friends to join us. Here's a list, remembering where I first met them:
1. Amy-silver lake preschool
2. Shelly- Ali Edwards weekend
3. Missy- family
4. Erin- church crop
5.stephanie - basement crop
6. Marie- picnic
7. Bethany - church
It feels like I have known them forever, I can't imagine my life without them.
#tinycats #warmandfuzzy #sinkholes #ermergerd #hahahaha #lollerskates #stripper #buyer #hoarder #inker #pusher #thickers

January 30, 2014

Taking a moment to be thankful for that handsome hubby of mine. He spent the last 2 days off due to the polar vortex 2014. He has now used 6 snow days. They will be making up at least one day. When he knew he was going to be off, he headed out to lowe's for some supplies to make some repairs around the house.
1. Changing out 2 overhead lights in the kitchen. One hasn't worked for a couple years, one hums when you flip the switch. Now we have bright task lighting to wash dishes and cook by! Amazing what a little light will do in your life.
2. Repairing the drywall in our bedroom. 2 holes were cut in the wall a last winter to fix a leak. A leak that was never found.
3. Putting the pedestal back on the bathroom sink by extending the plumbing and moving the sink. It never fit since he replaced the flooring (3yrs ago on another snow day- he also replaced the toilet the same day. In a 1 bathroom house that was fun) It was kinda falling off the wall.
4. Repairing the Tupperware cupboard and the drawer above it. Really I don't break things on purpose. They just seem to break while I am using them.
5. He even upgraded our fire safe box to a safe. Now we have a place for important papers, coins, gift cards, my dad's navy photos. He asked if I wanted to put any scrapbooks in the safe, for safe keeping. Uh, we need a safe room to contain them all. It was a sweet thought.
6. Because of the above repairs, I was able to cross of a few things from my list: move silverware drawer & junk drawer and organize Tupperware.
7. I am so thankful that Eddie is handy and willing to do things around our house. Especially on his bonus days off. He is a great example to our boys.
8. I know he was happy to go back to work today...to rest!

January 21, 2014

After church this past Sunday, my sweet niece maya kindly reminded me that she will turn 10 this year, as she turned to Riley: high 5 for double digits! What? How did the 2 year olds get this big? (We refer to maya, mason & Riley as the 2 year olds...they were all born the same year..it was fun to be pregnant with my 2 SILS at the same time) so I thought I better record Riley joe at 9:

1. He loves school! And learning. He is lucky to have so many teachers at school, at church & a wonderful piano teacher. Third grade. He is happy his buddy Corbin is in his class this year. Loves to play football or tag at recess. Comes home covered in mud or holes in his pants on a weekly basis. 2. Legos are still a favorite. When he gets a new set, it is put together ASAP. He follows instructions like it's his job. He studies Lego idea books at night and sometimes just has to build something because it's in his brain. He remembers all of the guys and what set they came from and what accessory goes with them.3. Shows: Chima, clone wars, Americas funniest home videos. Reading: Percy Jackson books & comic books Playing: minecraft, infinity, clash of clans, wii sports, any board game.4. He is sweet, smart, thoughtful, sensitive, easy going, funny, kind, polite and is willing to help out. He helps his brother when he sees a need. He will cover me up with a blanket so I don't get cold. His Daddy is his hero. 5. He is responsible for only being 9. He will let the dog out& feed her if he's the 1st one up. He does his homework and reads every night without being asked. 6. He would eat 10 oranges in a day if I let him! He will try new things and pretty much eats like an adult. He is aware if good food choices sometimes will have fruit for dessert. 7. Wearing size 3 shoes, 8-10 pants & shirts. 8. Remembers details and is sentimental about his stuffed animals9. My first born son who promises to call me mama even when he is taller than me. #lovethiskid

January 13, 2014

Time to de-clutter after the holidays. Feeling the need to downsize this year. Hoping this idea will help me jump start cleaning out and not overwhelm me. Because let's face it, when overwhelmed with a huge to do list, I would rather just go to take a nap or bing watch Scandal. But it's all about "staging" before doing something big, so it's really not procasination. 1 area a day seems doable...we shall see....

January 02, 2014

Where did you go? Seems like you just arrived before September came around the corner. Well see you next year, hope you can stay longer :)

August marked a new schedule in our house. The start of marching band season. The boys days with Daddy came to end, but not before they went golfing! It was a par three course and Daddy rented a cart. Riley took golf lessons this summer and Brady got his own clubs. Eddie had been waiting for this day since he bought Riley his first clubs on this 5th or 6th birthday.

The boys got to some spend full days with Grammy and Papa. They got to check on the dam progress in Cuyahoga Falls a couple times. They got to visit the Akron Zoo to see the new Grizzly bears, Cleveland Zoo to see the elephants, ride camels and feed parrots. And the Pittsburgh Zoo. I tagged along on the day trip to Pittsburgh. (I have this thing about my children being in the same state with me all the time.) Plus I wanted to do something fun! We got to see Aunt Becky and her wonderful garden and to what's new in her homesteading world. Pittsburgh zoo was awesome with an aquarium, river otters (my favorite) , giraffes, elephants, rhinos, flamingos, a polar bear, deers to name a few animals. It had a wondeful playground in the middle with cargo nets with slides. The boys could have played on that all day. so glad to ride the elevator with Becky, as we sent the boys with Grammy & Papa down the crazy vertigo inducing escalator.

Warrior Dash 2013! I participated in this 3.5 miles of obstable courses with my oldest friend, Leslie. No, she is younger than me. Oldest in the sense, I met her on the first day of Kindergarten and we have been friends ever since. Life has taken us in different directions. It could be years, months or weeks since I have talked to her last. But we always pick right back up like no time has passed. And by chance I ran into her in the Target( the best Target in Summit County) and she talked me into running this race with her and Kelly. Fast forward 8 months ! I literally forgot i had registered. But thankfully had run a little bit prior to this day with my friend Cassie. (everyone needs a Cassie in their life). Race day: nervous, I can't believe we are doing this. Just the 2 of us, Leslie and I survived! We didn't die. (that was one of our goals...not to die). Over and under fences and walls. Thru mud puddles, trenches, under barbed wire, cargo nets galore, water obstacles, swimming and jumping over fire. And the last mud pit (this is how the dinosaurs died!). We did it! What an awesome feeling. Accomplishment. I can't believe we just did that! So grateful I have the ability to do such things. I had one awesome bruise and some scraps. And a heck of a lot of sore muscles. Who wants to do the dash with me next year?!

We attended the 50th wedding anniversary of two very dear people. Ted & Laura. What a fun celebration. Our kids know them as Nonnie and Paw. They are kind of amazing people. They love their family and friends with a kind warmth. And you can tell Laura is still crazy about Ted and vice versa. It was a fun picnic and good to see friends from high school, hang out with sister in laws and for all the cousins to play together. And Eddie might have taken some ridiculous pictures on Nancy's new camera.

August started the crazy new soccer practice schedule. Brady Mon & Wednesday from 5:30 until 6:45. Riley- Tues & Thurs 6:00 to 7:45. and games on Saturdays and SUNDAYs. What the what? Sundays should be a day of rest - church, family & naps. The boys enjoy soccer. And they have some really great coaches. Brady's coach: Coach Robertson - intense, played soccer all of his life and has assistant coaches and about 100 cones at each practice running various drills. He sends us field diagrams, terms and side line etiquette. Riley's coach: coach Boorman. He seems to be coaching 85 teams. He is a little rough around the edges, but he gets the boys to play hard and you can see their skills improve by each game. And we get to hang out with friends as Riley, Connor & Ben all play on the same team.

Friends: So thankful for the Thirsty Thursdays group of girls. They are a good bunch. I am blessed to have wonderful friends. And to see other friendships grow over the past year. You are never too old to make new friends. We got to celebrate Marie's birthday (The Office) and Nancy's 40 (wine &canvas event at Mandy's) and a late night on Darby's patio after yoga. Got to see most of the scrappy girls twice this month. Once at Missy's, watching SYTYCD and eating pasta. And then at Archiver's for an actual crop where I might have actually scrapbooked a page or two. My sister dear Missy is so good at "gathering" friends, I love that about her. And she also has the best baby sitters. We have shared a sitter so we could go to Sarah's to celebrate a sweet friend, Shanna's birthday. Eddie had a band party, so I got to tag along with Ben & Missy. It was a fun night once we got a table outside watching the sunset with some yummy food and getting to know Uncle Kevin. (this was also the night Baby Jacob got stung by a bee - not a first you want to celebrate) but a quick thinking babysitter and Ben made a trip home to check on him, he was just fine.

Dine Time: We joined the small group dine time at church. Just a monthly gathering to share a meal and get to know church family. in our group: craig & shanna, Mike & Lorrie, Bea, Shirley and us. We hosted on the last free August Friday nights. Simple dinner of fajitas, mango salsa & guacamole. Bea kept calling it granola! She loved it and never tried avocados before. We played pitched car and learned a new card game Trash.

Maroon 5: The 2nd time to see the band this year. This concert was at Blossom and on a Monday night. For some it was the first day of school! whoopsie! Me, Mandy & Cassie. We missed Heather. Adam and the band put on a great show and Kelly clarkson opened. Seriously it was kind of a mess getting out of the parking lot and Blossom should put a Taco Bell in the parking lot - it would make leaving so much better. This is where Mandy earned her nickname "snickers". Which fast forward about 12 weeks and we learn the real reason. She is good at keeping secrets!

School: first grade for Brady - Mrs. Hulten & 3rd grade for riley - Mrs. Hansel. We made it to both open houses between soccer practices. Eddie started a new marching band season. And this one would turn out to be the longest one of his career so far. Hello playoffs! The undefeated Highland Hornets. They would go on to play the Friday after Thanksgiving and lose the title to Glenville.

First attempt at freezer meals - Missy and I made a bunch of freezer meals to get us through the hectic start of school. We each came away with like 7 meals. Not bad for a couple hours of work.